Arnold Kling on the Mainstream Leftist Consensus

Is the debate over expanding government settled? In Kling’s estimation, not likely:

one can make a case that recent decades have vindicated Hayek more than Keynes, Galbraith, or any other icon of the left .. The problem with those who have decided to aim for a more statist society is not just that they have stirred up some reactionary sentiments among the peasant classes. They are attempting to centralize power at a time when the decentralization of knowledge is making centralized power inappropriate and ineffective. I happen to be reading The Franco-Prussian War, by Geoffrey Wawro. Toward the end of the war, some Parisian radicals proclaimed a new republic, with many hoping to create a communist society. In many respects, they were out of touch with reality. They over-estimated their support in the countryside and their control over the military situation. Perhaps one can see parallels with the Obama Administration.